Users of Ecstasy are prone to panic attacks, depression, and psychotic illness. The finding was reported to the health minister (in the UK), Simon Burns, from scientists on the Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs.

Each week a million youngsters are reported to "pop" a E tab to improve their social lives, believing it to be safe. Burns stated " ... there is no safe recreational drug and Ecstacy can be very damaging to your physical and mental health." The unpredictable harmful effects of ecstasy include epileptic fit, panic attacks, paranoid states, episodes of confusion, permanent visual changes, depression and the risk of psychotic illness.

Ecstasy has been linked to 60 deaths. The drug has been suggested to cause direct damage to the liver and heart. Burns reported that the " deaths which occurred have been unpredictable and sporadic and seen usually to have been brought on either by hyperthermia (overheating) and the complications which follow or, very rarely, through excessive water consumption which has led to acute water intoxication." Since both dehydration and overheating are common conditions found in young people clubs, the government are informing the public of the harmful effects of Ecstacy and other similar amphetamines; MDA and MDEA, through its drug prevention program, Tackling Drug Together.